Gotoh 12 string tailpiece ?

[Andrew Porter]

Is a Gotoh 12 string tailpiece suitable for Richenbacker stringing and/or standard acoustic 12 stringing?

Thanks

[Freeman Keller]

Is a Gotoh 12 string tailpiece suitable for Richenbacker stringing and/or standard acoustic 12 stringing?

Thanks

Andrew, I am assuming you are talking about the STP-12 stop tailpiece. It looks like it should work fine, it seems to have the two holes for each course with a common route for the string balls - I can't see any reason why you couldn't reverse the order of the courses (as you know Ricks have the primaries on the even numbered positions). I think it would be fine for either straight pull or "over the top" stringing depending on break angle and all that stuff.

I'm not so sure about the GTC-12 bridge - it looks like the saddles are fixed for each course and you wouldn't be able to compensate if you reversed the courses. I would definitely check with Gotoh on that one.

I don't understand your question about standard acoustic 12 stringing. Do you want to use it on an acoustic? If so I doubt that it would work. On an acoustic with a pinned bridge the pins and slotting sets the spacing both of the strings within a course and the courses themselves. I have built acoustic 12 strings with tailpieces - in that case you slot the saddles to set the string spacing. It looks like if you used the Gotoh tailpiece you would have to slot the saddle (and deal with intonation which is always tricky on a 12 string).

If you simply want to use the Gotoh tailpiece (and bridge) for what I call "normal" stringing (octaves on the even positions) that should be fine.

[Andrew Porter]

Thanks for the reply Freeman. This is on an electric kit guitar. The GTP12 is looks similar to the piece that came with the kit (I couldn't find any pix of the STP12). On both the even number sides (toward the bass side of the neck) have less mass and looks like they should be for the octave strings. They can slide back and forth relative to the odd number string as they do on the GTP12. The nut is cut for the octave string on the bottom side of the course. Rickenbacker style.

The body was pre-drilled/routed. I took off a 1/4 inch of the top and laminated figured maple on it. As I would have to redrill for what ever tailpiece I use, I thought of trying a Gotoh bridge. After looking at pictures of the GTP12 the kit parts seems similar enough that I will give it a shot first. I plan to try to locate the bridge by clamping it and checking to see that I could set the intonation the high and low E string pairs.

[Freeman Keller]

http://www.g-gotoh.com/international/?btp_product=gtc12

http://www.guitarpartsresource.com/gbri ... e_stop.htm

I think the G is for gold, S must be silver. It looks like the string spacing is 52.5mm (2-1/16) which I would find tight based on my acoustics but might be perfectly normal for an electric (I don't play an electric 12). The mounting studs on the tailpiece are 82 mm (3-1/4) spacing. I know that some ToM tailpieces and bridges have different mounting holes.

I'm guessing that the 2-1/16 bridge spacing will fit the normal neck pocket but often 12 strings are wider at the nut - 1-7/8 is common. You might want to lay all of this out to make sure it will work - I would worry about the offset of the string from the edge of the neck. Double check the pups too.

Would like to see it when you finish

[Andrew Porter]

Here's a pic of the guitar with the laminate on it. I drew lines from straight edges aligned with neck and have redrilled the string feeds from the back. As you can see, it looks misaligned. I didn't try this before I laminated the maple on top. I wish I had.

[Andrew Porter]

Sorry, I forgot to reduce the size of the pic.

[Freeman Keller]

Andrew, I realized after my last comments that you were putting together some sort of 12 string kit and the kit came with something that looks like the GTP-12, which, as I look closely at the drawing in my link looks like it does not use a stop tail piece, but rather has the odd numbered strings going thru holes in the body (like a tele) and the even numbered ones going thru the flange at the back of the bridge.

Going back to your original question - I can't tell you if that would work for Rick stringing or not. The even number strings are going to have much less break angle - that would make a huge difference on an acoustic guitar but I say what it would do on an electric. (In the acoustic world there are arguments about whether the pins for the primaries or octaves should be closest to the saddle - it does make a difference here).

Anyway, forget what I said above about the stop tailpiece - you don't need it. There are 12 string versions of the tune-o-matic bridge but that probably won't work for your kit.

Second, your neck and bridge should line up so the first and 12th strings are the same distance from the edge of the fretboard. You can get there two ways - set the neck and align the bridge or locate the bridge and align the neck (or a combination). I can't tell if that's a bolt on or set neck (looks like a bolt on) - if it is and the holes are drilled you are pretty committed to moving the bridge (if I had a bolt on 12 string I would sure consider putting inserts in the neck and doing away with screws). If it is a set neck can you finesse it side to side to get the alignment at the bridge? If not you may have to fill the string holes and redrill them - the bridge will cover it on top but it will look kind of bad on the back. Maybe route the whole area out and make a nice metal plate for the string balls.

I would also suggest that before you do the final neck set you carefully check the angle and height of the neck over the top. Is the top flat or is there some arch? Either way, make sure you have enough travel of the saddles to get all the strings at the action you want and double check your pups too. Since you have added the veneer you might have to shim or chisel the neck pocket to get it to line up.

Lastly, you mentioned that the nut was cut for Rich stringing - you can get premade 12 string nuts from other sources

http://www.graphtech.com/products/brand ... string-nut

but I never trust a premade nut to drop into a custom guitar and work. You are probably going to have to do a little work on the nut slots anyway - why not just make a nut from scratch for the string spacing and height that you want?

I'll add that once upon a time I got to work on an electric double neck that the 12 string neck had come loose in the pocket (set neck). It was a poor joint with a very short tenon, finish had not been adequately removed from the pocket - it was designed for failure. Twelve strings don't have double the string tension, more like 150% but it does add to the complexity of building them.